What popular songs/bands that are heard on the top 40 today will be listened to and cherished 40-50 years down the road? Who here listens to today's mainstream music and really gets into it and studies it and becomes passionate about it to the point where you could almost or actually cry because of how beautiful it is? Just like I thought...none and nobody...because it's 99% trash.

Have Lil' Wayne, Katy Perry, and Taylor Swift produced timeless music that will be listened to, played, and cherished by future generations much like Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, and Lynard Skynard? Will kids in 50 years have Justin Beiber or Bruno Mars or Maroon 5 posters hanging in their bedrooms? The answer to both of these questions in my opinion is no. I would also venture to say that kids in future generations will still be putting up Pink Floyd posters in their rooms and wearing t-shirts. Why? Because music has gone way down hill. I'm not saying that all music in previous generations is timeless, but there was certainly a lot more. Like way more.

Also, I was going over the top 40 just now. It looks like every single band is actually not even an actual band, but rather some person who is the "face" of the band that does the singing and gets all the credit for everything as well as the picture on the cover. Who plays the drums and bass guitar for these artists? Who plays the keyboard? Where are the actual MUSICIANS (you know, the people that actually make these songs work) and why aren't they getting the credit they deserve? I'm willing to bet that most of the artists listed on the top 40 didn't even write their own songs. Sure, maybe they wrote the lyrics (big deal this is music not poetry, words aren't even required) and maybe came up with the melody or so, but did they write eve ry single note for every single instrument to be played? Did they write the transitions and organize it? Highly doubtful. Today's music is much easier to perform, so I'd think that we would be more inclined to give credit to the actual writers for doing the hard part.So why aren't we hearing about the musicians and only seeing the face of the singer? This leads me to my next point.

Why are so many of these "artists" physically attractive? Back in the day, most artists were not your typical hot guy/girl, but now they are today. That seems suspicious to me, because I doubt that somehow over the past 20 years or so that attractive people inherited all the musical talent. Seems like the music industry has figured out that the average listener cares a little more about physical looks than musical talent, which is sad. Ella Fitzgerald is ugly as sin, but she could out sing any of the current female artists today WITHOUT any studio/electronic enhancements to her voice. I doubt she would become famous this day and age.

I realize that there are a lot of indy bands and stuff that we will never hear on the top 40 that are actually pretty good. But it's sad that we have to really dig and search for this stuff on our own. Also, it's annoying cause I can't get away from the mainstream no matter how I try...go to a restaurant/store and there it is. Get in my friends car, there it is. Turn on the TV, there it is. I'm tired of it. It's garbage. End Rant.

"Authority should derive from the consent of the governed, not from the threat of force."

Oh, and you can get away from mainstream music pretty damn easily. Turn off your TV. Turn off your mainstream radio. Of the 6 examples of "today's mainstream" music you mentioned, I've only ever heard a song from one of them (Maroon 5, and I'm pretty sure that was about 10 years ago or so).

having been in bands for the last 25 years, the music today for the most part saddens me.. i just don't see the passion and the fire that goes into writing a stairway to heaven, or freebird..

having grown up on R&B, Blues, and of course classic rock, i just don't see the talent in song writing, musicianship, and just great bands like Queen, Rush, Earth wind and Fire, Commodores, just to name a very few...

i've also noticed it's harder for us local musicians to get good gigs. because of Dj's and the clubs audience is now a much younger generation, our music just doesn't fit in certain places.. We do everything from Sabbath to Godsmack, and sure we have our faithful, but i don't see us pulling in many new young fans, maybe they are just not familiar with the old stuff and can't connect.. they love the new stuff though.. times are a changing for sure.. i watch Conan from time to time and i am constantly wondering how in the world did some of the bands on his show make it there..

i'm sure there's great music and great bands still out there.. i guess it's just harder to find.. JMO

Last edited by hawker84 on Wed Feb 13, 2013 11:42 am, edited 1 time in total.

The biggest difference IMO is how easy it is to mainstream artists like Katy Perry and Justin Bieber. Are they talented? More or less. Do they put a lot of effort into their career? I'd say so. But pop culture has become so easy to be a part of that it has all these 'big name artists' pump out generic music much faster than it should be. Hell, look at Soulja Boy. He started by just making youtube videos for himself and he is now buying multi million dollar planes as personal birthday presents, and his 'music' is absolute garbage. Repetitive slang, no rhyme or rhythm, and just doesn't sound good. It has become so easy to market yourself with all the social media we have now a days that it makes more sense to constantly churn out half-assed catchy music for big profits than to take the time putting yourself into the music. Monkey see monkey do....it's a copycat league.

*Edit- There is a possibility people still have Bieber posters 40-50 years from now lol the dude is about as big as it gets in the music industry as much as I dislike his music.

who are the song writers of today like the Beattles, Stones, Elton john, Freddy Mercury's, stevie wonders, Getty Lee's, David Gilmores., Aerosmith's and soooooo many other great writers of old... what songs could be considered the Stairway to heaven or Back in Black or Tom Sawyer of the modern era?

Well, Gangnam Style, for sure. At least until next week. Or is it already unpopular for being stuffed down our throats?

RolandDeschain wrote:Your grandparents said the same thing about those silly groups like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Carry on.

Don't think they thought they wouldn't have the staying power, not after the British Invasion. Your grandparents may have said they were loud, obnoxious, and irritating, but I don't guess they'd have called them short-lived.

World Champion Seattle Seahawks football. It's an addiction, and there is no cure.Les Norton - gone but never forgotten. Rest in blue and green peace, my friend.

What popular songs/bands that are heard on the top 40 today will be listened to and cherished 40-50 years down the road?

RolandDeschain wrote:Your grandparents said the same thing about those silly groups like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Carry on.

Not exactly, but my parents asked me that exact question in the 80's.

(Then again, I'm old enough to be a lot of NETTER's parent, so your point remains completely intact.)

49ers webzone: Win or lose, i hope you injure Sherman. Like a serious career ending injury. I don't want him to get paid.49ers webzone: noise should not be the overwhelming reason a team is favored. they need to spray noise-damping foam onto the ceiling of that place.

I don't dig a lot of modern music, but its silly to think that pop has ever been anything different. That's what we are talking about right? Pop music? Did The Supremes right their own music? No. Phil Spektor and the wall of sound did most of the work for most of MoTown. Your comparing Led Zeppelin(Thief of the blues artist) to Justin Bieber, why not compare Biebs to a pop artist from back then, not a rock band of insanely talented musicians.

There were catchy pop songs back then, and there are still today. As far as long lasting music...there's a hell of a market for nostalgia, and some of these tunes people will still rock years from now. Adele and Alicia Keys can actually sing and I think Adele is proof that an exceptional voice matters more than a pretty face if that voice is packaged into heart wrenching woeful 4 minute songs. Lady Gaga writes and composes the majority of her music too. Did you ever think that 80's music would recirculate itself into a vital part of the college bar scene across America? The idea of nostalgia is powerful.

The issue, and coincidentally enough, they had a thing on Grantland about this yesterday, is that rock and pop are totally fractured apart. "Mainstream rock" is mostly stripped down acoustic shit like Mumford and Sons and The Black Keys. Thanks to the "nu metal" phase of rock music, actual rock, you know, electric guards, sick riffs, solos, all of that, is written off as music of anger. And really, it still kind of is, rock radio is filled with bands that were influenced by Korn, not Zeppelin or Floyd.

We're a nation of short attention spans, we want songs that last 4 1/2 minutes and sound good. Sadly, because of this preference, we lose out on the music that really lasts and matters.

One last thing, look at influences and how removed current bands are in their influences from bands like Zeppelin, Sabbath, Stones, and Floyd.

Mumford and Sons, probably influenced by 90's alternative English bands like the verve and Oasis, who were influenced by the Beatles.Generic angry modern rock band(Five Finger Death Punch), influenced by Bizkit and Korn, who were influenced by Metallica, Slayer, Iron Maiden, who were influenced by Sabbath.

I think what's most troubling is that these bands lack the curiousity and true love of music to really delve into musics history. But I find that a common refrain across all of our society.

I'm kind of surprised that nobody has brought up the fact that in the 50s/60s/70s, a lot of the music being made at that time was with new equipment, (namely, the electric guitar, which brought a unique sound that didn't really exist before it in music) which opened up a whole new world as far as music goes. That's a lot of freedom for skilled songwriters. A lot of these "amazing idols" you guys are referring to had freedom to do whatever the hell they wanted without having to be supremely concerned about copying someone else's stuff. Nowadays, bands in pretty much all major genres get crucified by their fans and much of the media if it even resembles anything that has been done before.

I'm not trying to take anything away from great bands like The Beatles/Rolling Stones/etc., but you have to be fair about how you look at it. The world was their oyster, in a manner of speaking. Hell, some of the most popular songs of that entire era were experiments or accidents, and more than a few bands resented what turned out to be their most popular song because they wrote it as a gimmick or something along those lines. Cobain wrote "Smells Like Teen Spirit" as a joke, and Quiet Riot's "Cum On Feel the Noize" was also just a joke in the recording studio, and their production engineer only recorded it for the hell of it. Slash & Izzy Stradlin wrote "Sweet Child O'Mine" in literally 5 minutes for a string skipping exercise for Slash.

Basically, my point is that looking back at that era of music and thinking "Man, so much great stuff was done then, why don't we have any great artists now?" is unfair and just not really accurate. In today's world, everybody demands originality when it comes to music, and people are elitist about their movies more and more, too. *Cough, all the hypocrites that cite Avatar as being a rip-off of something before it, when those things were rip-offs, too*

Seahawk Sailor wrote:Well sure, Roland. Every generation has their new music equipment. Mine had the electric guitar. This generation has Auto-tune.

...For people that can't sing. Or write a song that anyone would remember.

Seriously, the crap put out today is utter garbage, and that is coming from someone that can listen to Disturbed, then switch to Enya.

People need to put down beats and electronic bullshit and pick up a guitar and learn to play. Bunch of lazy people on this planet now. They don't want to spend the time to get good chops and actually gain the knowledge to write good songs.

I disagree there is still alot of really relevant music now days but its just gone underground, there is just 10X more crap which makes the good stuff harder to find.

When was the last time you heard an album that was solid from start to finish? Most are a hit single and a bunch of filler. The album format is dying, take a look at a kids ipod these days and its 2 songs by this band, 1 of this band and 4 of another.

You speak true Roland. It led to a lot of experimental music, some worked(Pink Floyd's catalog) some didn't(every King Crimson album after the first one).

There is some decent music out there, but few bands that I get into have my attention for one or more album. It's like they stumble onto their good songs and don't know the why of how they are good.

The Mars Volta made one of the greatest debut albums I ever heard, blending creativity and melody perfectly. Then went off the deep end of experimentation and kind of lost me.

However, Wolfmother is a current band that blends old school influences with their own unique sound. You listen to them, you hear Sabbath, you hear Metallica and you hear Zeppelin, and I dig that.

I think its funny all the complaining about autotune as we gleefully indulge in the other aspects of the digital age. We all love HDTV and live by our Smartphones. We love being able to download music, and digital recording over analog has led to some interesting innovations. But dammit, autotune, that's where the line is crossed, not a couple at dinner that sit texting each other rather than talking.

RolandDeschain wrote:Your grandparents said the same thing about those silly groups like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Carry on.

Well my grandparents were right most of the time...

But seriously, that is a valid point and one I've thought about a lot... However unlike my grandparents I don't hate all music from today. Like others have pointed out, it's just been more of a pain to find the really good and creative stuff. I listen to rap, techno, electronic rock, etc. but certainly nothing that's on our weekly top 40 or that plays on any radio station. My grandparents wouldn't be caught dead listening to any form of rock n roll or pop music (strictly swing, classical, and jazz, all of which I also listen to).

BTW I'm 28, so as much as I got a nice laugh out of everyone's "old man" comments, that simply isn't the case

Another thing I've been wondering is why we rarely see instrumental hit songs anymore.

(I am guessing here) The general public has a short attention span and have no a imagination to let the music take you on a journey without lyrics to paint the picture for you. Also many think instrumentals in rock are just a guitar player wanking off.

**edit** I am probably in the minority here, but I don't really pay much attention at all to lyrics

RolandDeschain wrote:Your grandparents said the same thing about those silly groups like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Carry on.

Well my grandparents were right most of the time...

But seriously, that is a valid point and one I've thought about a lot... However unlike my grandparents I don't hate all music from today. Like others have pointed out, it's just been more of a pain to find the really good and creative stuff. I listen to rap, techno, electronic rock, etc. but certainly nothing that's on our weekly top 40 or that plays on any radio station. My grandparents wouldn't be caught dead listening to any form of rock n roll or pop music (strictly swing, classical, and jazz, all of which I also listen to).

BTW I'm 28, so as much as I got a nice laugh out of everyone's "old man" comments, that simply isn't the case

Another thing I've been wondering is why we rarely see instrumental hit songs anymore.

From 1959 - 1966 (8 years) we had 84 instrumental songs crack the top 20.From 1973 - Present (40 years), we've had 43 instrumental songs crack the top 20...with the most recent being in 1999

Why is it that people don't like instrumentals anymore?

Can't just be technology at all can it?

BTW, anything on the radio is straight up corny whether it be Hip hop, Rock, Country, Pop, you name it, I don't think they even play hip hop on Kube 93 anymore aside from that 2 hour block on Sunday nights do they?

And before anyone says anything about my love for hip hop and my technology comment, I do dab a little Tool & Deftones in the mix too, been into that stuff since I was 14 lol.

The Black Keys are one band that I feel would still have music that could still be played at minimum 20 years from now. Great song writing, guitar, riffs, drums, melodies. Far from pop music but one I know I'll still be listening to for a long time.

There are far too many good bands out there to say music isn't good today. Radiohead is the best band in the world, and in any generation, that's a good thing. Also, Hip-hop is killing it right now, and if that's not your thing, then that's your fault.

Easy to see why there are so many different types of music, look at all the different tastes.

I'm very shortly going to be 70 and still like good quality music no matter what genre.

I admit to prefering the Rock of the 60s-70s-80s.

Grew up and went to high school in Chewelah, Wa. that was pretty much the old Buck Owens type of country and never learned to like it much. My friends and I in school played in bands and made music but it was all Rick Nelson, stuff like that. Once got thrown out of a convacation for doing some of his music on stage.

Carl Perkins in those days was really rock a billy and helped make the rock and roll music popular. Then this guy named Elvis came along and the kids went wild. Again that was music the school people refused to let us play publically.

My very favorite kind of music tho is real good harmony, no matter if its country, rock or anything else. Its hard work to sing good harmony from barbershop stuff right up to groups like the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac.

I like a bit of Jazz but prefer the Dixieland version of it to the hard core stuff even while appreciating the talent it takes to play it. Have never learned to like Rap at all cause to me its not music. I know others of you like it and we are going to have to agree to disagree cause to us old people if you don't sing, or play and instrument, you aren't making music. To me Rap represents a lack of talent musically. That's just the way I see it and I'm not bashing any of you for liking it so don't bash me for not.

Regarding instrumentals, in the 60s-70s one of the most popular groups in the world was the Ventures. But you listen to any 60s-70s station and they never play them. Ventures, Duane Eddy, Chet Atkins, and so many more that contributed to our music culture have been thrown along side the road and left tho they were domineering in their day.

m0ng0 wrote:I disagree there is still alot of really relevant music now days but its just gone underground, there is just 10X more crap which makes the good stuff harder to find.

When was the last time you heard an album that was solid from start to finish? Most are a hit single and a bunch of filler. The album format is dying, take a look at a kids ipod these days and its 2 songs by this band, 1 of this band and 4 of another.

I was thinking about this subject yesterday. Here are some random thoughts I had on the long drive home from work:

I grew up in the late 70s and 80s and with 10 channels on the TV, no computer, a limited selection of books, etc. I would spend hours listening to the same record albums over and over. Listening to music was my primary focus for many hours of the week--put a stack of well worn LPs on the Hi Fi, grab the album covers (hopefully gatefold!) and just immerse yourself in the artist(s) and the music.

I explained to my children that no one listens to music like that anymore. Too much other stuff to do. Why focus on one album and learn everything about it when you have 5 million songs at the click of a mouse? Why listen to music as an activity when you can do 1 million other things on the internet?

Popular music today is not for thought, it's not about reflection, or rebellion, or an important social message like it used to be. It's about noise in the background that makes you wiggle your ass as you drive, or chat with your girlfriends. Teenage girls have always been a major influence on popular music, but now it seems they are the only one.

I've also thought about the death of rock music. Guitar driven music had 50 years in the sun. Generation X was the last generation where rock music was the driving sound. Rap came along as a new sound that for the first time since the 1950s was not dominated by the Baby Boomer generation. At the time I thought (hoped?) it would be a hiccup on the music scene like disco was. Looking back that was ridiculous--rap and electronic music was the future and stacks of amps, long hair and catchy melodic guitar riffs were the long distant past. Tough for rock to be the music of a new generation when it's been the music of three generations prior!

There are a few other threads in here about rap--even rap fans are lamenting the loss of the "classic" period in rap music, like those of us who loved rock music have been doing for 15 years. What changed? I blame the internet, for the reasons listed above.

Finally, where is the rebellion from the young people in general? Every generation before you had segments of youth who cried out against the status quo, and those segments created the new sounds of music. This generation seems very content with life. IMO technology has pacified them--all of us--too much. And the music has suffered as a result.

_________________"The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there."---LP Hartley

As to the part about rebellion, it's still out there (Google Tyler, The Creator or V Nasty, you'll see what rebellion looks like now). I think what has happened though is that so much that used to be considered rebellion has become accepted and commonplace. It's harder to rebel than it used to be.

I think that a lot of today's rebellion is peope who remember what actual liberty is like rebelling against today's accepted status quo. But the next generation calls it Old Farts Against Progress. Like when old curmudgeons REALLY HATE government cameras everywhere, spying on everyone, and today's kids go "Whatever, old dude. They're keeping me safe"...

Listening to "I don't have to sing the blues" by Grand Funk, one of the most underrated bands of all time. If anyone of you ever get a chance to check out their "Grand Funk" and "Closer to Home" albums, you should. The songs are way better than We're an American Band and their covers of Locomotion and Some Kind of Wonderful. And listen to the Japanese mixes of these older albums if you can...they are spectacular.

"Authority should derive from the consent of the governed, not from the threat of force."

SkittlerLynching wrote:There are far too many good bands out there to say music isn't good today. Radiohead is the best band in the world, and in any generation, that's a good thing. Also, Hip-hop is killing it right now, and if that's not your thing, then that's your fault.

The only thing hip-hop is killing right now are my eardrums. 2 chainz? Drake? Nicki Minaj? Future? Chief Keef? French Montana?